Sunday, 26 March 2017

The Better Man by Howard Weinstein

The world of Empyrea is a colony of genetically perfected human beings who have kept themselves apart from the growing Federation until fifteen years ago when a scientific facility was established on the planet to observe a nearby stellar phenomenon. The treaty allowing the facility is now ending and the council is refusing to allow the Federation scientists to remain so the two of the original contact team are sent back in an attempt to secure the future of the project.
Ambassador (Former Starfleet Captain) Mark Rousseau is heading the delegation and back in the day Dr Leonard McCoy was his chief surgeon, the two men are no longer the close friends they were but there should be no problem working together. Of course when McCoy arrives and meets up with Elizabeth March an old "friend" who is now the President of Empyrea and learns that she has a daughter and McCoy is the father and that it's a criminal offense to have "freelance" offspring devoid of the manufactured genetic perfection.
The Better Man was a decent enough read and I guess we can let it pass that eugenics is alive and well outside the direct Federation sphere of influence. It was interesting to read some backstory of what McCoy was up to before finding a berth on Enterprise and truth be told I think his character was written very well. It was also fun seeing Scotty having to deal with a egotistical Empyrean scientist and nearly losing his temper many a time as Spock tried to channel Scotty's emotional outbursts in a productive manner.
All Star Trek is worth a read since you never know what will appeal as we all have favoured characters and while the novel overall wasn't a must read fans of McCoy should enjoy it.